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Module 421

Deploying MERN Applications

Module Summary

This module transitions from local development to production deployment, covering the essential concepts and tools required to launch a full-stack MERN application. Learners will explore the principles of Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD), understand the end-to-end workflow for deploying a web application, and gain hands-on experience with a modern hosting platform. The focus is on preparing an application for a live environment, managing production-level configurations, and understanding the processes that automate and simplify deployment.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the core concepts and benefits of Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD).
  • Outline the complete workflow for deploying a MERN application, from code commit to a live website.
  • Identify and compare common hosting services for full-stack applications (e.g., PaaS, IaaS).
  • Prepare a Node.js/Express backend and a React frontend for a production environment.
  • Gain practical experience deploying a MERN application to a cloud hosting service like Render.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this module, learners will be able to prepare a MERN stack application for a production environment and deploy both the frontend and backend services to a modern cloud hosting platform, successfully connecting them to a live, publicly accessible URL.

Module Outline

Lesson 1: Deployment Fundamentals & CI/CD

  • Time: 2.5 hours
  • Topics:
    • What is “Deployment”? From localhost to the world.
    • The Production Environment: Key differences from development (e.g., performance, security, error handling).
    • Introduction to CI/CD: Automating the build, test, and deployment pipeline.
      • Continuous Integration (CI): Merging code, running automated tests.
      • Continuous Deployment (CD): Automatically deploying successful builds to production.
    • The Deployment Workflow:
      1. Pushing code to a Git repository (e.g., GitHub).
      2. CI server detects the push and triggers a build.
      3. Dependencies are installed, and the application is built for production.
      4. Automated tests are run.
      5. If tests pass, the build is deployed to the hosting provider.
  • Activities:
    • Whiteboarding a CI/CD pipeline for a MERN application.
    • Discussion: What are the risks of deploying without a CI/CD process?

Lesson 2: Hosting & Production Preparation

  • Time: 3 hours
  • Topics:
    • Overview of Hosting Services:
      • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) (e.g., AWS EC2, DigitalOcean Droplets).
      • Platform as a Service (PaaS) (e.g., Render, Heroku, Vercel).
      • Strengths and weaknesses of each model.
    • Deep Dive on Render.com: A modern PaaS for full-stack applications.
    • Preparing an application for deployment:
      • Creating production builds (npm run build).
      • Managing environment variables for production (API keys, database URIs).
      • Configuring the Express server to serve the React build’s static files.
      • Handling CORS for a production domain.
  • Activities:
    • Live demo: Configuring a simple Express/React application for a production build.
    • Group exercise: Listing all the environment variables a typical MERN app would need for production.

Lab 1: CI/CD Pipelines Analysis

  • Time: 1 hour (asynchronous)
  • Task: A reading and viewing assignment on CI/CD principles and tools, followed by a written reflection.
  • Objective: Articulate the value of a CI/CD pipeline and compare different tools used to implement one.

Lab 2: Full-Stack Deployment

  • Time: 1 hour (asynchronous)
  • Task: Deploy a simple, pre-built MERN application to Render.com by following their official documentation.
  • Objective: Successfully deploy both a backend web service and a frontend static site to Render, connecting them to create a functional, live application.
Lesson 1: Deployment Fundamentals & CI/CD